Loving The Temperamental Adonis
Chapter 173: Old photograph

Chapter 173: Old photograph

Mia glanced out the dining room window at the reporters swarming in the yard and lining the street, feeling weariness crashing over her in waves. Neil had already prepared her for this, and she knew not to slip and disclose anything that could complicate matters for any of them. From what she gathered from Neil in the mountains, Jason was his rival in the military and she didn’t need to be told twice to know that the man was trying to make her slip.

"I’ve already informed you, he is not a killer and he attempted to save my life when he thought I’d died in the frozen river."

"That doesn’t change the fact that he murdered your mother and two other individuals!"

Leaning back in her chair, Mia gazed at him with a mix of disdain and frustration.

"I do not, even for a moment, believe that Neil is the murderer. Now, allow me to pose a question to you, Mr. Wallace." Disregarding Owen’s warning squeeze on her knee at her confrontational tone, she continued, "Put yourself in my position and imagine for argument’s sake that I had taken you as a hostage and you had managed to escape from me. You hide from me, but I believe you have fallen into a deep, icy river. From your hiding spot, you witness me rushing down to the river and plunging into that freezing water.

I dive repeatedly, calling out your name, and when I fail to find you, you see me stumble out of the water and collapse in the snow. Instead of returning home on my snowbike, I give up. I expose my soaked shirt to the cold to hasten my demise, and I tilt my head back, shut my eyes, and remain there, allowing the falling snow to cover my head and face..."

As Mia fell silent, Jason raised his eyebrows. "What are you getting at?"

"My point is," she replied shortly, "after witnessing that, would you believe that I could be capable of committing a murder in cold blood? Would you try to extract information from me that could lead to me being shot before I had a chance to prove my innocence?"

"Is that what Wayner intends to do?" he demanded, leaning forward.

"It’s what I would do," she evaded, "and you didn’t answer my question. Would you—after you knew I tried to save your life and wanted to die when I thought I failed—try to wheedle information out of me so you could get me captured and probably killed in the process?"

"I would feel compelled," Jason retorted shrugging causally, "to do my duty and help see that justice was done to a convicted murderer who also happens to be a kidnapper now."

Mia looked at him for a long moment and said quietly, "In that case, I can only hope that you find a heart donor because you obviously don’t have one of your own, Mr. Wallace."

****

Finally, after the nerve-racking questioning that lasted for more than an hour, Mia was left alone in her house. Well, not completely alone because Owen’s men were still positioned outside and the reporters who were looming in the cold. She tried to sleep but was unable to, as her mind kept going back to Neil and what he planned to do, and if he would be able to clear his name.

She had already decided to help him, even though he didn’t want her help, by ensuring the citizens of their country continue to view him as a hero. Turning on her bed, she got up and headed to a room she hadn’t allowed herself to open for years. She turned the doorknob and stepped into the dark room. Reaching for the light switch, she turned on the light, and the room where she had stored away everything she had ever owned in Whispering Way brightened up.

The first thing her eyes fell on was the guitar that Neil had given her five years ago. Before she knew it, she walked towards it and picked it up in her hands. Running her fingers around the familiar strings, she felt her throat tighten with emotions. Sitting down on the floor, she hugged the guitar to her chest, trying her best not to shed tears of longing that had been threatening to burst forth ever since she had left the man she loved, and ever since he had told her he didn’t want her love.

As she sat there, holding back her tears, memories of their time in the mountains began to overwhelm her. She remembered the nights they’d shared making love as if it were their last, the moments when he’d kiss her with genuine tenderness, and the times he held her close as if afraid of losing her. Those were the happiest days of her life in all these years. Without him, the emptiness in her chest seemed to grow deeper, and with him, everything in her life felt complete.

"He doesn’t want my love," she muttered, her lips trembling.

Her tears, which she’d struggled to contain, now flowed freely, her shoulders shaking as she clutched the guitar tightly. Muffled sobs filled the room as she tightened her arms around the instrument. She had promised herself not to cry over the love she’d lost, but the pain was so intense that she wished she had no heart. It hurt so much that she wished she had never experienced the joy of loving and being held every night by the man she loved. Tonight, she lay alone in bed after six days of sleeping in the warmth of his embrace.

Perhaps her life had always meant to be lived alone; first she’d lost her only family and now she’d lost her love. Wealth and riches meant nothing when you have no one to share them with and now she wished she’d gotten to know the relatives her late mother had once told her about. Perhaps with family her pain wouldn’t have run this deep, and the pain made her miss her mother so much she’d do anything to find the real murderer and clear Neil’s name.

Mia stood up and was about to put the guitar back in it’s position while wiping off her tears and hurrying to leave the room that held old memories that made her heart ache everytime she thought about them, but the butt of the guitar hit against a little box and it fell opened spilling the content on the floor. Her eyes fell on the box and she recognized it as one of her late mother’s ’treasure’ box where old photos and treasured items were stored. Crouching down, she picked it up and placed it upright and then began to absentmindedly pick up the old photographs and papers that had fallen from it as her mind wandered to the press conference she’d be attending tomorrow to try her best to lessen Neil’s case.

About to place the photographs in the box without looking at them as she thought they were the ones she’d seen many times before, her eyes fell on an unfamiliar one at the top and she paused in her actions of closing the box. Frowning, she reached for the old photograph and her breath caught short in her lungs at what she saw, trembling from disbelief, she stumbled backwards staring, trying to analyze the photo and how she happened to be in it. And the most strangest thing was that, she was...

"Two of me in one photograph," she muttered in disbelief staring at the two little girls with identical faces and trying desperately to imagine how that was possible. The two little girls were standing by her late mother’s side, who sat between them. However, there were two other people, a couple standing at the back but their faces had been stained with water and cleared away from the photograph. And the fact that they were in a mansion did nothing to make her understand what was happening and when this photo had been taken.

Mia sat there staring at the photograph as if staring at it more than once would give her the answers to her questions. She stared at the photo so deeply until her vision began to slightly blur, and until she felt a pounding headache in her head that threatened to split her brain. The headache was so intense she fell backwards clutching her head and trying to block out the memories that was suddenly about to burst forth from looking at the unfamiliar mansion.

’She’s not my child! I didn’t want her to have any emotions, she was never meant to have any, but look what you’ve caused, Ella! You let her out of your fucking sight and now see!’

’I...I didn’t mean to let her roam to that side, I just wanted her to see what’s it like to be a little girl in the park, I didn’t know she’d meet Mariana’s best friend and speak for the first time that she wants him!’

’You are going to fucking regret this, Ella, I will make sure I beat the shitty emotions out of her!’

’No, please don’t. She’s just a child, please...!’

"No, please don’t hurt me, no please. Don’t..." Mia began to tremble on the floor crying and shaking like a fish that was taken out of water. She curled up like a child hugging her knees to her chest, she wanted to snap out of her trauma but this attack was worst than any trauma attack she’d ever experienced, she couldn’t see the images of the memories but she felt herself experiencing it like it was happening.

"Please, don’t hurt me. Please..." She cried, her breathing turned labored and her heartbeat began to slow down. Slowly but gradually she began to fall into darkness, it was consuming her and she felt herself fading away, something her therapist had told her not to let happen, but her emotions were too shattered for her to stop herself from falling.

"Please..."

Just as she felt consumed by her emotions, a hand touched her face, and a familiar voice called her name. The voice seemed close yet distant, as if echoing from afar. The warmth of the hand started to rouse her from her daze, making her aware that someone was drawing her into a comforting embrace.